A while back, I posted a blog about never neglecting your health. Since then, a colleague of mine has died, causing me to think much more than usual about life, death, and all the to-often neglected aspects of daily life. Regarding my colleague, it is amazing to me how much you an grieve for and miss someone you really did not know all that well, and how, once they are gone, how you wish you had tried to know them better.
Personally, I've had several issues this year. Starting with dual sinus infections, ear infections, all culminating in a perforated ear drum. After that, a root canal failure requiring a complicated (and painful) molar extraction. And finally, this weekend, when I wanted to give my wife a much-needed break for Mother's day, I fell and broke my right foot, laying me up for weeks without the ability to drive, walk without crutches, or do much of anything to help out with the kids.
To say the least, it's been a tough 2011 so far.
And so, believe it or not, this is a message of hope. Hope for a better future. Hope for improvement. Hope that, in the midst of controversy, we somehow can rise to the call, and find in ourselves that which was always there, but heretofore hidden without the impetus of challenge. And hope that our high-sounding words can, when they need to be, be transformed into actions that we can be proud of upon subsequent reflection.
And, perhaps most of all, hope that, when things are better, and we can take care of ourselves as well as offer ourselves to the care of others, we appreciate this ability, and gratefully acknowledge this great, awesome, and precious gift we call health.
